Online TV Channel for Free Course Lectures

More than 144 hours of UC Irvine’s faculty lectures will be made available for free through a new UCI OpenCourseWare project called Open Education TV.

The launch of the online channel – which will give viewers worldwide access to seminars and conferences at their convenience – coincides with the first Open Education Week, scheduled for March 5-10 by the global OpenCourseWare Consortium (OCW Consortium).

“With thousands worldwide celebrating Open Education Week, UC Irvine is proud to have been an early participant in this movement to expand higher education opportunities through technology,” Chancellor Michael Drake said.

The new TV channel will be featured on the campus’s OpenCourseWare website and will broadcast continuously during its debut week.

“UCI’s Open Education TV broadcast will allow anyone in the world access to the high-quality content, video lectures, and materials produced by our faculty, on demand, for free. Our hope is that participants identify content they like and return after the inaugural week,” said Gary W. Matkin, dean of continuing education, distance learning and summer session.

“As a sustaining member of the OCW Consortium, we are committed to promoting and supporting this global event to increase access to higher education worldwide.”

The large-scale, Web-based resource houses materials that are discoverable, searchable and modifiable by underserved populations unable, in many cases, to participate in formal university education. The site also provides access to UCI’s online continuing education offerings.

Founded in 1965, UCI is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Led by Chancellor Michael Drake since 2005, UCI is among the leading campuses in the University of California system, with nearly 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students, 1,100 faculty and 9,000 staff.